The Tribune

ALTHOUGH members of the Bahamas’ national culinary team are confident they will sweep away the competition with their versatile menu at Taste of the Caribbean, they still need Bahamian support in Florida to claim victory.

That is why the nine-member team has been calling out to Bahamians in South Florida to support them in the voting process in the five-day competition, the premier culinary tournament in the region.

The competition, at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, runs until Wednesday and also involves teams from Anguilla, Barbados, Bonaire, Curaçao, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Lucia, Suriname and the US Virgin Islands. Each team is comprised of three select chefs, one pastry chef, one junior chef, a kitchen artist and a bartender.

The Bahamas team consists of chefs Sheldon Tracey Sweeting, Charon McKenzie, Jamal Small, Richmond Fowler, Dwayne Sinclair, bartender Marv Cunningham and kitchen artist Indra Solihin. A team manager, Michael Adderley, and an administrator, Charlotte Knowles-Thompson, also travelled with the team.

Yesterday the competition kicked off with Taste of the Islands, the section where the taste buds of the crowd count as that vote determines which team wins this aspect of the competition.

Chef Sweeting lamented that even though last year the team won 13 medals – the most in the competition – they were unable to take home the People’s Choice Award prize due to lacklustre support from Bahamians living in the Florida area.

“It is important for Bahamians to come and support us Bahamians – our team. It’s our food, our culture, our heritage,” he said. “In the past Puerto Rico has won several times because Miami and Ft Lauderdale make up a lot of Puerto Ricans and other Spanish speaking countries and so they get that support. I know we have a lot of Bahamians who live in Miami and Ft Lauderdale. We are asking for your support in what we are doing. We are doing Bahamian cuisine in a different format.”

Some of the Bahamian favourites that will be featured are old school chicken-in-the-bag with a new twist of guava hot sauce, tropical conch salad and Bahamian bread pudding.

“We are enhancing what we do home and taking it to the Caribbean,” Mr Sweeting said.

Mr Adderley also made a strong appeal to Bahamians for their support. “All you native Bahamians in Florida, we need your help. We need you to come and assist us for our street food to get our votes and also the Taste of the Caribbean. This is a flawless example of Caribbean food so please come out and help us to win this street food competition,” he said.

Bahamians can also show the team support by attending the other days of competition. Today the team competes for honours in the bartending and cheesecake rounds. Tomorrow there is a pastry chef of the year competition, junior chef competition and bartending competition.

On Wednesday, the pivotal competitions of chef of the year and bartender of the year will be held through mystery baskets duels.

Those attending can also have lunch from different parts of the Caribbean through a lunch and dinner cooked by competition participants. Taste of the Caribbean is presented by the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association (CHTA).